Sandy Hook relative tweets senators

Erica Lafferty, the daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, sent Twitter messages to the 14 GOP senators who have pledged to filibuster a gun control bill scheduled to be considered this week. Only one — Texas’ Sen. Ted Cruz — called her back.

“It was really just me asking him why he wasn’t doing his job,” Lafferty said Wednesday on MSNBC. “You know, the point of Congress is to debate and to vote and he’s choosing to not do that. I asked him what would have happened if my mom chose not to do her job on December 14th, because things would have turned out a lot different than they did. His response was, pretty much that, the legislation that was proposed isn’t going to prevent things like Sandy Hook happening and we need to focus more on penalizing criminals and felons and kind of on the aftermath.”

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Cruz, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), was the first to announce plans to filibuster any gun control legislation Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought to the floor. Their effort has since been joined by a dozen other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Earlier Wednesday, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced a deal to expand background checks on gun sales.

Lafferty said she spoke with Cruz for about 20 minutes Tuesday, but was unable to persuade the Texan. A Cruz spokeswoman said the conversation was “respectful,” but said she didn’t want to elaborate on a personal conversation.

“I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be common sense, really, to prevent things from happening again instead of just picking up the pieces after, because that’s what I’m dealing with right now,” Lafferty said.

The families of Newtown victims have played an increasingly prominent role in President Barack Obama’s push for gun control. After a Monday rally in Hartford, Conn., several families flew on Air Force One with the president back to Washington, where they’ve spent the past few days lobbying senators.

“I don’t get what they’re scared of,” Lafferty said. “Mom wasn’t scared in the hallways of Sandy Hook. You’re an elected member of Congress. Stop being scared. Do your job. There’s a ton of pieces to this puzzle, and background checks is the first part of that puzzle.”